London calling

Jon and I managed to find a few days to ourselves and hopped over to London for a quick visit. It was kind of a whirlwind tour of the city, but man, it was awesome. London, by far, is one of my favorite places we've been.

The first day we were there, we got off the plane, and headed to our hotel. We stayed at this nice little place in the Kensington/Chelsea area of London. Garden View Hotel lived up to its name, overlooking a tiny little garden park. The place was clean, quiet, offered free breakfast and was just a few minutes from the Underground. Once we checked in and got settled, we went on a four hour bike tour of the city with Fat Tyre Bike Tours (yup, the same company we toured Paris with). The tour was good, but our guide was mediocre at best. Who knows, maybe he was just having an off day. By the end of the tour I was exhausted! Being four months pregnant and cycling around a city in 70 degree weather, probably wasn't the best idea, but whatevs, it was still fun. We got to see a lot of fun things, but a lot of the typical sights, like Buckingham Palace was in full Jubilee preparation, so the views were obstructed. Ah well, at least we got to see the guards with the fuzzy hats.

On the second day, we celebrated my birthday! We did the Making of Harry Potter, a studio tour where the movies were filmed. That was the highlight of my day, hands down. Warner Brothers had sets like the Great Hall, the Gryffindor Common Room, Dumbledore's office, and costumes from the movies displayed like pros. I took gobs of pictures (probably close to 100 of just the tour, it was a little ridiclous. I was like a kid in a candy shop). The coolest part of the tour was seeing the "small" scale model of Hogwarts (pictured at bottom right) that was built for the movies. It was used for the incredible sweeping landscape scenes in the movies. They also had it rigged so the lighting in the room changed from day to night, and with the change of time, the castle changed as well - more candles and lights peaking out from the windows. It was  incredible. We topped off my birthday with a spin around the London Eye, which gave us killer views of London. The weather was perfect for it - sun just starting to set and no clouds. We also managed to find a burger place that rocked my socks. I know, I know, eating burgers in London? Seriously though, this place Byron's served me the best burger, onion rings and chocolate milkshake I've had since we moved to this side of the pond. Yum.

Our last day was actually spent outside of London in Salisbury. We picked up a bus tour in London and headed to Stonehenge for the afternoon. The weather cooperated and only rained on our way back to the city. This ancient heritage site is as every bit amazing as we imagined. It's so massive and incredible, and no one really knows that much about it. They do know that it was built in stages spanning hundreds of years, and what kind of stones were used, and where they originated from, but aside from that, much of Stonehenge remains a mystery. Pretty cool stuff. Completely worth the 4 hour round trip from London.

This trip to London provided us with some quality time with each other, which is much needed with the upcoming planned chaos of Jon opening a bakery and the arrival of the munchkin in November. A bit of babymoon, if you will. It was also probably one of the best planned trips we've taken, which (duh) makes the visit much more fun. Getting around London was a piece of cake on the Underground. Seriously, more cities with mass transit need to study London's Underground/Tube/Overground system - we didn't get lost once! London was a total success and I cannot wait to go back to visit (once the Olympics and the Jubilee are all said and done).

An addition to the family

We are proud to announce that The Downes' will be welcoming a bundle of joy in November! Jon and I are both so excited for our new addition.

Here is the baby at about 13 weeks.

We will be having the baby in Ireland, so the little one will be both an Irish and an American citizen (way cool!) As if being pregnant weren't overwhelming and amazing enough, try navigating a completely foreign healthcare system. The maternity care here is free (which still is incredible to me), and the nurses and midwives are awesome.

I will try to keep this updated as we progress. Currently I'm 13 weeks along, but when the ultrasound was done a little over a week ago, the technician said the baby was measuring at about 12 weeks 6 days, so I don't really know where I am now. It still amazes me that I'm growing a little human. Man, life is good.

Hey, Europe!

Phew! The past couple of weeks have been busy, and not just because the end of term is coming up (though that doesn't help). Jon and I have been bouncing around Europe visiting Scotland, Spain, and France!

Scotland was great because we were able to catch up with some Cobleskill friends, and hang out with them for the weekend. Then on Sunday before we flew back to Dublin, we spent the day in Edinburgh. After enjoying Scotland for a couple of days, I cannot wait to go back.

Pictured here from the top left, is my friend Jess, who we were visiting; me and Jon on top of Hailes Castle; and a shot of Hailes Castle. The castle was right down the hill from where we were staying - on a farm. 

The crest at Edinburgh Castle, Jon and I at Edinburgh Castle looking over the city, Edinburgh Castle, and the world's best bagpiper (because it can't actually play- hah!) and Jon.

Spain was phenomenal. We really enjoyed the laid back atmosphere here. We toured around the city, visited another castle, rode in a cable car, and enjoyed a very sunny day at the beach.

We picked up my brother Logan in Barcelona, and the three of us made our way to Paris. We took a bicycle tour around the city and got to see some of the incredible sights. We also enjoyed a delicious crepe for lunch. Logan and I stayed in Versailles, and were able to see the Palace of Versailles (bottom left picture).

Logan and I flew back to Dublin after a slightly disappointing time in France. We were supposed to visit Normandy, but with the Easter holiday, the tour company's wires got crossed and gave us the wrong info. Long story short, we didn't go to Normandy :(. While in Ireland, I took Logan up to Northern Ireland for a day trip to the Giant's Causeway, the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, and Belfast. We had gorgeous weather for a day on the northern coast.

I had a ton of fun adventuring around with my not-so-little brother. Hopefully we'll get to do it again in the future. Can't believe that boy graduates from high school in June. Man, I'm getting old.

An ocean away....

I may be in Dublin, but my heart and mind are in Lewis County.

My brother CJ, the 21 year old beast of a guy, has been diagnosed with a cavernous angioma – a small bleed on his brain. Apparently he’s had it since birth, but it wasn’t bleeding, until this past weekend. It’s a slow bleed, and he doesn’t need surgery, because it’s quite small and the extra blood will just be reabsorbed by the body, according to the neurosurgeon. The problem is that it’s been making him sick and literally giving him killer headaches for the past week. He’s afraid to eat or drink, thinking he will just throw it up, and the only thing I guess he can take for the headaches is Motrin or Tylenol, or something over the counter, and once it wears off, the excruciating pain wakes him out of a dead sleep. He’s been in and out of the emergency room several times this week because of the nausea and the pain, but there’s not much they can do. As of now, he's been admitted into the local hospital for dehydration, and they're planning on keeping him over night to help manage the vomiting and pain. It’s scary, no bones about it. What's even scarier, is there’s not a darn thing anyone can do about it.

It’s been tough for him and my mom, since she’s been taking care of him around the clock since Sunday. It’s been tough for all of us. I feel awful that I can’t be there to help; my dad, lord knows I love him dearly, doesn’t really handle these situations the best, and just ends up angry; and our younger brother Logan, well, he’s in senior mode and freaking out about college scholarships. Luckily family (blood and chosen) is close by, and my aunts, family friends, and grandma have deployed to help my mom out. I only wish I could do more than lend an ear. Its times like this that I wish I weren't an ocean away from my family.

I’m not a terribly spiritual person, but please, keep my brother in your thoughts and prayers while he is on the mend.

Here's a picture of me and CJ rocking the photo booth at my wedding in September.

Oh yeah, we saw Ireland

Last week mom, dad, and I were able to drink in the gorgeous Irish countryside. We toured the west of Ireland, visiting the Cliffs of Moher, Doolen, The Burren, Connemara, Kylemore Abbey, and Galway. We also were able to head north to check out Belfast, Carrick-a-Rede, the Giants Causeway, and other beautiful spots along the northern coast.

Images from top going clockwise-ish: Cliffs of Moher; me and dad crossing the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge: Dad, mom and me at Carrick-a-Rede; Mom and dad at The Burren; and the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge.

All of these images are from the Giants Causeway up in Northern Ireland. 

We had a fantastic time seeing everything, but I think the highlight, for me, was the northern tour of Carrick-a-Rede and the Giants Causeway. These are truly beautiful, well respected places - something that's hard to come by these days. And, I can't wait to go back (I think I'll take my brother north when he visits in April).

Jammin'

This weekend we decided to get serious about canning. Our pickling cucumber plants were kind of out of control. So I picked them clean and got about two-pounds of cukes. It was decided, we were going to make pickles! 

Our tiny farm a few months later

It's been a while since we've shown you how our plot at the Cobleskill Community Garden is doing. Well, everything has taken off like crazy! Well, except for our lettuce, that rascally groundhog who lives under the shed thinks our lettuce is quite a tasty treat. Saturday Jon and I went and picked up M for some quality time with Cool Jon and Miss Kate at the garden. It was so fun.

Thinking happy thoughts

Yesterday I got one of the most unnerving messages from my mom - "Call me when you get this Trevor had a swimming accident."

First of all, it should be illegal to text someone a message like that because immediately you think the worst. Luckily, I was able to call my mom and get the details that he was ok and in the hospital.